Bernalillo teacher 'blasts off' to 2025 NM Teacher of the Year obligations

BERNALILLO — When Lorilei Chavez came into the classroom at Bernalillo High School Aug. 11, they might be surprised with a curriculum that is out of this world.

The BHS social studies who was named the 2025 New Mexico Teacher of the Year said she plans to take what she learned with other educators July 16-21, during NASA Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, and apply it to her social studies classes.

“I didn’t realize the depth or the importance that I have in building the next engineers (and) rocket scientists,” said Chavez, the first Native American to become the state’s Teacher of the Year. “Going to Space Camp really showed me there are ways I can incorporate science and engineering every day into my social studies content. Social studies does belong in space.”

Chavez’s participation in Space Camp was just one of several activities in which teachers of the year participate. The educators visited the headquarters of Google earlier this year before attending Space Camp. They will also participate in “Washington Week” in September, when they will meet with lawmakers in the nation’s capital, and in January, they will head to Miami to watch the College Football Playoff National Championship.

For now, Chavez is reflecting on Space Camp, which she said was “jam-packed” with activities, from building an ablation shield to a Mars rover simulation. Teachers also participated in two space mission simulations, in which Chavez reported to her team on environmental factors during launch and re-entry of a space shuttle.

“There’s room for historians on the rocket ship; I’m just waiting ... so I can be the first Native (American) historian in space,” Chavez said.

For Chavez, Space Camp took away the assumption that social studies stands apart from science, technology, engineering and math, commonly referred to as STEM. For one thing, astronauts are “writing history” when they enter space, Chavez said.

The Space Camp activities, she said, also reinforced the notion that while teachers often emphasize rigorous class instruction, they don’t leave enough time for “brain breaks.”

“I need to make more time to take students to reflect on their learning,” Chavez said. “(Let students) take those breaks throughout the day, and throughout those lessons, to allow students to let the knowledge sink in.”

Chavez recognizes that her obligations as New Mexico Teacher of the Year will take her away from her students.

“That’s the hardest part of serving as Teacher of the Year; you do get pulled away from your class a lot,” Chavez said. “I honored my students last year, and I honor my students that are coming into the classroom this year.”

She is thankful for Bernalillo Public Schools, which sponsors Chavez to take on her Teacher of the Year obligations.

“Any teacher knows that even leaving for one day is stressful,” Chavez said.

All the while, she thinks of her Teacher of the Year honor as an “Apollo 11 slingshot moment,” and she is trying to figure out how her shuttle will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

“I’m deciding whether I’m doing a shuttle entry, which is more smooth, or if I’m doing a module entry, where I’m burning up,” Chavez said. “But I’m really excited and honored in this year of service that I’ve been able to serve. But I am also looking forward ... to the things that are going to come next after I re-enter back into the regular space of being a teacher.”